WASHINGTON — Top Republican congressional leaders and President Barack Obama — who have had a rocky relationship for nearly two years — insisted Tuesday they got the midterm election message from voters and have begun searching immediately for a way to extend Bush-era tax cuts.
The cuts expire after Dec. 31. Obama and Democratic congressional leaders want them extended only for individuals earning less than $200,000 a year and couples making less than $250,000 a year. Republicans want the breaks to continue for everyone.
Obama met for about two hours Tuesday with congressional leaders from both parties at the White House, the first time they’ve met since Republicans won control of the House of Representatives and gained six Senate seats on Nov. 2. The tax-cut-extension issue dominated a discussion that also covered expiring unemployment benefits, nuclear arms control and gays in the military.
For the final 35 minutes of the meeting, Obama and congressional leaders asked their staffs to leave the room, a step meant to encourage candor.
The two sides emerged full of praise for each other and agreed to immediate Capitol Hill tax-cut negotiations between Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Budget Director Jacob Lew and four key members of Congress.
They also seemed ready to tone down the harsh rhetoric that has characterized White House-congressional relations since Obama became president 22 months ago.
The American people are “demanding cooperation, and they’re demanding progress,” Obama said after the meeting. “And they’ll hold all of us, and I mean all of us, accountable for it.”
He said he was “very encouraged by the fact that there was broad recognition of that fact in the room.”
The next House speaker, John Boehner, R-Ohio, struck a similar note, saying, “I am optimistic” about prospects for future cooperation. He said Obama acknowledged that “he hadn’t spent as much time with us, reaching out and talking to us, and committed to do so.”
